Testimony continues in trial of ex-fire chief
A second high school student took the stand in the sexual assault trial of former Kingsville fire chief Bob Kissner, testifying Monday that he, too, was invited to the chief ’s home for massages and hot-tubbing. The complainant testified that, when then-chief Kissner first patted him on the shoulders and touched, squeezed and rubbed his thigh, he said he asked a person in authority whether such physicality was normal.
“Yes, he’s just that type of person — he’s touchy,” was the response, he said. Superior Court Justice Pamela Hebner has imposed a publication ban on the names of eight accusers, all men, as well as on any information that may identify them. Monday’s testimony came from the first alleged victim to step forward and complain to the Ontario Provincial Police, who arrested and charged Kissner in December 2016. Seventeen years old at the time, he described an alleged incident in which Kissner “rubbed my penis” while both were watching a training video. He also described a subsequent morning encounter at the chief ’s house in which the complainant said he shed his clothes in Kissner’s bedroom and was given a massage before both donned bathing shorts for a hot tub visit and more massaging.
Just as the first complainant testified last week, the second young man said the chief mentioned his whirlpool bath on more than one occasion. “‘One day, you’ll experience the hot tub,’” he said. Assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Holmes asked the complainant if he’d ever been asked by the chief whether he could do what he was doing. “No,” came the response. Asked how it made him feel, the complainant responded: “Frozen. In shock. I didn’t know how to reactor what to say to him. Fear.”
After the OPP arrested and charged Kissner for sexual assault, other complainants soon came forward. Kissner now faces 17 criminal counts — 11 for sexual assault, five for sexual exploitation and one for sexual interference — involving eight alleged victims as young as 16. The defence has tried to portray the encounters as consensual. The two complainants who have testified so far were described by the Crown as persons under the age of 18 who came under Kissner’s direct supervision.
Between the bedroom massage and visiting the enclosed patio hot tub, when Kissner stepped out to get into his swim trunks, the second complainant said he thought of calling the police but decided not to, fearing he would be overheard. Having his penis rubbed in the hot water made him feel “frightened, very uncomfortable, speechless,” he testified. Later, he said, “I felt alone — there were thoughts of suicide.” During cross-examination, defence lawyer Ken Marley described Kissner as “touchyfeely ... it’s just his way of saying hi,” and that the complainant could have said no at any time, that he wasn’t forced to lie down on a bed and take off clothes for a massage or hop into a hot tub with the chief. “There’s all sorts of things you could have done to stop what you thought was abuse,” said Marley. “Nothing inappropriate happened that day.” “That’s not true,” the complainant replied. “I was frozen, I feared to say no.”
The trial continues Tuesday.